1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a content display control apparatus and a content display control method that arranges and displays a plurality of content items according to a given category.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in addition to PCs and dedicated storage apparatuses, cameras that capture content and the like are provided with a storage function, and some apparatuses store broadcast content, such as disc recorders. Accordingly, there are display apparatuses that display the content stored in these devices. Some of these display apparatuses in these configurations display a list of all the content as text, such as the content names.
Also, in recent years, methods for displaying a list are employed in which an overview of the content is displayed explicitly in the form of images or videos as thumbnails of content items or partial playback of characteristic portions. Such display methods display the content in various orders such as in the order of date or file name, whereby the overview of the content is shown in an easily viewable manner, so that they are effective in searching content.
Further, there is another method for providing an easy content search by organizing and grouping the content. In this case, the content groups formed by grouping the content are represented by icons. In many cases, the icon representing a content group is created using an image of a representative content item in the content group or a part of the image, or using images of all content items.
Under these circumstances, in order to provide an easy content search in displayed content, there is a method in which metadata of various categories is added to the content, and the content is arranged according to the order of the categories. Examples of such categories are date, people, location, event and the like.
As the method of arranging content according to each category, in the date category, the content is arranged in date order. In other categories, the content is arranged in alphabetical order, or in the order of the Japanese syllabary of the metadata, for example.
However, there is a demand to arrange related content items close together when the user attempts to search a desired content item by browsing the content. In other words, to display related content items close together is effective in a visual content search which is to search a certain content item while browsing the content.
Under these circumstances, a method has been proposed in which content is selected, a common keyword is extracted from the selected content, the relevance between the common keyword and the keyword assigned to the content is checked from a keyword table, and the content is arranged in descending order of relevance. For example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H10-275161.
Also, a system for sorting content has been proposed in which the images of content that is grouped together based on relevance information are displayed, and the images in each group are sorted based on existing order information or by inputting order information. For example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-013575.
Further, a system has been proposed in which keywords assigned to content are classified using a dictionary, and the sorting order of the content is determined based on the importance of the keywords. For example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-139401.
However, the conventional techniques described above have the following problems.
(1) In the case of grouping the content having the same metadata in a desired category before arranging and displaying to perform a visual content search, in order to arrange relevant content items close together, it cannot be determined which order of arranging the content groups is effective.
(2) In the case of sorting the content groups in date order or in the order of the Japanese syllabary, alphabet of the metadata or the like, relevant content items are not always arranged close together in the category.
(3) In the case of determining the order based on the stored tables containing the relevancy or importance of keywords, the content groups cannot be arranged properly according to the relevance between the content items stored in the system.
(4) In the case of sorting the content groups in descending order of relevance to content or a content group serving as a criterion, it cannot be determined which order is effective to arrange relevant content items close together.